


Day 7: High Grade

by Rellwen



Series: Advent Challenge 2015 [6]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime
Genre: Barbie Girl is involved, Drunk!Knock Out, Gen, Karaoke, Out of Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-13
Updated: 2015-12-13
Packaged: 2018-05-06 10:39:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5413694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rellwen/pseuds/Rellwen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Knock Out is way too deep in his cups and Breakdown is stuck with babysitting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Day 7: High Grade

**Author's Note:**

> So, I had a really hard time with this one. I’m not as proud of it as my other ones but oh well. I had to get a lot of help from my SO on general shenanigans for this one. He picked the song, so I take no blame (credit?) for that!
> 
> I really like the ideas that I’ve got coming up for my other prompts so I’m hopeful the others will turn out better.
> 
> Seriously, I didn't even reread this one. Editing is nonexistent. I hope I'm just being too critical and you guys enjoy.

The average day aboard the nemesis was busy and filled with various degrees of mayhem. Most, if not all, of the residents had long since grown used to it. Generally speaking, Breakdown tended to keep himself out of it. But lately he had noticed far fewer instances of ridiculous and baffling situations. It had been calmer and almost quiet. For the first time in what felt like a lifetime the general population approached what felt like a peaceful atmosphere.

Mind you he did tend to spend his time separately from the bulk of the forces onboard. There was a hall set up in the lower levels of the ship that had been temporarily reassigned as the ‘Festivity Center’. Breakdown had only been there once and decided it wasn’t for him. It was a big wide open hall packed to the brim with mechs at all hours, music playing, ornaments jingling, voices swelling and filling the room all melding together in some horrific holiday cacophony that some seemed to genuinely enjoy.

Not Breakdown. He liked people, sure. But he prefered to hang out with a few people at a time rather than cram in with dozens of mechs he doesn’t know. Most night cycles he spent just as he was now, comfortably seated in his chair by the tree in the medbay reading from a datapad.

Every solar cycle they had some new event scheduled in the festivity center that drew a sizable crowd. So maybe there wasn’t any less stupidity, it was just more localised. Breakdown was interrupted from his reading by a ping on his comm. His presence was requested at the Festivity center. What was the human saying? Ah yes; Speak of the devil.

While the blue mech didn’t actively take extra time to get to the boisterous hall he sure wasn’t making an effort to arrive quickly. He could see the doorway up ahead now. There were a few mechs loitering outside and he could hear the noise already. Breakdown’s comm flicked on and Knock Out’s evidently distressed voice came through, “Breakdown I need you!” His location popped up - in the event hall straight ahead.

Breakdown closed the distance in four large bounds, fearing the worst he clamoured into the room ready for anything.

Ok, almost anything.

Knock Out the suave, dignified, and deadly decepticon doctor had lifted a vehicon soldier off the ground and over his shoulder. He looked like he was struggling to do something while the vehicon just looked confused.

Noticing his partner’s entrance Knock Out perked up, “Breakdown! Help me throw this guy!” He demanded.

What. “Uh, what’s goin on here?” The assistant chose to ignore the request for a moment.

The vehicon responded first, “I dunno sir, he just came over here and said I was pretty or something and then he lost it!”

“I believe the exact words were, ‘Your finish is as flawless as mine.’” Atlas supplied with a snicker, appearing at Breakdown’s elbow.

Seriously What. Breakdown vented in exasperation, “ Come on Red, Put him down.” He adopted a soothing tone.

“Fine.” Knock Out spat, “I’ll do it myself!” He then proceeded to attempt to do just that, lose his grip, drop the vehicon and then topple over him landing in a tangle of limbs and regret.

Breakdown moved to help them up. Bending down to grab hold of an arm each the pungent smell of high grade wafted up to him.

Oooohhhh. Yeah that would do it.

He set the vehicon on his feet, “Sorry about that, uhh…” Breakdown paused attempting to decipher the code on the smaller mech’s chest with little success.

“We put the first two numbers together to make a ‘B’,” the vehicon explained covering up part of the code with his servo leaving the 13 visible. before taking it off again revealing the whole code, 1345E.

Breakdown nodded his recognition, “Alright, well sorry about this guy, Base.” he apologised ignoring the medic’s indignant protest, “It’s a compliment it really is.” He made to steer his partner away from the disgruntled vehicon.

Knock Out, however had other ideas, “What’s your malfunction?” He snapped at an innocent bystander. Which was met with confused eradicons peering around to figure out who he was even talking to, “you got a problem?” The medic started zipping around, back and forth like a weird caffeinated squirrel, “Fight me! Let’s go! Let’s race! I’ll leave you so far behind so fast you won’t even know what my tailpipes look like!”

Breakdown clamped a hand over the smaller mech’s mouth and dragged him back in the opposite direction smiling apologetically, “You should not be driving right now.”

“Maybe you should go do karaoke?” Atlas suggested, trying to redirect Knock Out’s attention.

Worked like a charm. The doc’s eyes instantly brightened a shade, “Ooh, good idea! Let’s go Breakdown!”

“What? Why me?” The blue mech griped even as he let himself get led away. Atlas followed along looking far too amused.

“Because I said so.” Knock Out declared like it was the most obvious thing in the history of ever.

Breakdown raised an optic ridge at his partner, “How much have you even had to drink?”

“Sooo many.” Atlas chimed in.

“Shut up you!” Knock Out swatted in the vehicon’s general direction, “It wasn’t that much. Why’d you even ask that?”

“You dropped that mech and tried to drag race a flyer.”

Knock Out looked like he was trying very hard to have a snappy comeback for that. Fortunately they reached the stage and in lieu of responding he simply dragged himself onstage and pulled on Breakdown’s helm like a petulant sparkling until the larger mech conceded and followed.

“Alright! What should we sing?” Knock Out flipped through the catalogue looking much too pleased with himself.

“I don’t know any earth songs.” Breakdown responded

Knock Out scoffed, “You don’t need to know the song. The words pop up on the screen and you just pretend you know what you’re doing!”

“Wouldn’t that sound pretty bad though?” Breakdown questioned

“The whole point is to be terrible at it.”   
“That seems a little counter productive.”

“Here.” Knock Out shoved a microphone in his assistant’s hand, “We’ll just hit the random button. Look, the words and sort of melody pops up down here.” He pointed, “You’re just singing the background so you should be fine.”

Breakdown watched as the very inebriated Knock Out made several attempts at hitting the ‘random’ button on the machine controls. When he finally managed the screen lit up with an animation, it was at this point Breakdown discovered the screen in front of them was projected in a massive version of itself on the wall behind him. 

The song’s title page of sorts popped up. Breakdown looked out at the occupants of the hall. There were an awful lot of them… he felt his discomfort surge. Someone in the crowd started howling with laughter, and that was not helping! Straight to the pits with this! The doc wanted to do this stupid thing so badly he could do it with someone else. The blue mech lurched forward in a jerky attempt to put the microphone back in its holder and take his leave. But Knock Out turned to face him then, He looked so obscenely happy it froze Breakdown in his tracks. Well maybe he’d survive one song. For his fantastically overcharged partner.

Who actually needed dignity anyway?

Meanwhile Knock Out gave a few experimental calls into the microphone staring intently at the screen. “Breakdown say something.”

“Why?” It was strange hearing his own voice echo back from the sound system.

Apparently that was good enough, “Aha! Alright well I’m red and you’re blue. That should be easy to remember.”

Breakdown looked down at his own plating. 

A gentle melody faded into being and two voices began a short diologue, “Ok so you’re the mech and I’m the femme then.” Knock Out determined pointing at the screen again.

Ohhh the lyrics were color coded. That made so much more sense. As the song picked up to a slightly more bouncy tune Breakdown stood awkwardly on the stage while his partner stumbled through the first verse. Instead of actually paying attention Breakdown took a moment to ponder on his life choices and which ones led him to this exact moment. He was pretty sure he regretted all of them ever. 

The dreaded blue words appeared on the far right of the screen and crept towards the bar. Breakdown mustered all of his contempt and focused on pouring it into those six words. Hating every single one of them with the white hot intensity of all the stars in the sky. When he finally uttered them he impressed even himself with the derision dripping from his tone, “Come on Barbie, Let’s go party.”

Kouck Out launched into his part, it was a repeat of the first verse he’d sung so he actually managed a passable job this time around. 

Breakdown busied himself by watching the video featuring a group of strange looking humans parading around in a brightly colored and partially animated environment. Nothing about this seemed normal. Even as he read the lyrics his partner was belting out without a single iota of shame, Breakdown couldn’t make sense of it.

“I’m a blond, bimbo girl in the fantasy world~”

Ah scrap. Blue words incoming. Breakdown sucked in an invent, “You're my doll, rock'n'roll, feel the glamor in pink,” These lyrics made literally no sense! “Kiss me here, touch me there, hanky panky.” woah wait, What?! Breakdown’s optics flared to their widest setting. What the scrap had he agreed to?

Knock Out snickered next to him looking far too pleased with himself, “You can touch,” Here he leaned in precariously close to Breakdown, purposefully adding a suggestive drawl to his voice, “You can play, If you say I’m always yours.”

The red mech flitted away as he began the chorus with gusto.

He made it to the third phrase when he first faltered, then snickered, then burst out into peals of laughter. The jaunty music continued to play on, little words scrolling across the bottom of the screen. Knockout was doubled over clutching his abdomen as his laughter escalated to hysterics.

Breakdown took that as permission to abandon ship. He all but threw the microphone away from him and retreated a few steps, eyeing it like it may combust.

Knockout, meenwhile, managed to reign himself in long enough to speak, “What is this song?” His voice abnormally high with humor. He peered at the lyrics with renewed chuckles, “What even is a Barbie?”

Breakdown shrugged

“I got it!” An eradicon hopped up to sit on the side of the stage and started typing away at a portable console, “The search says Barbie is a children’s toy.” He surmised, “Like this.” He lifted the screen so the doctor could see.

Knock Out bent over to get a look, leaning in a little closer than he usually would have, with a precarious sway. “PFFFT!” He snickered waving Breakdown over, “Look at that!”

Breakdown peered at the image from farther away, “Well….You’ve got the shoulder to waist ratio down.”

While Knock Out laughed long and a little too boisterously the song came to a close on the forgotten machine and returned to the menu screen.

“Come on, that’s enough of this disaster for one solar cycle.” Breakdown suggested hopping down off the stage easily.

Knock Out nodded happily, “Let’s get you a drink!” The red mech proceeded to climb off the stage and directly on to his assistant. The wheel on Breakdown’s back got in the way so Knock Out ended up sort of clinging to his helm and side in the most unorthodox impression of a koala ever. 

“What are you even doing?” Breakdown made an attempt at peeling the doctor off.

“Carry me!” Came the petulant demand.

Breakdown whirred a heavy exvent before obliging. He wanted nothing more than to just return to his chair and his datapad. He looked down at the mech in his arms, so casually snuggled up to his chassis. He was talking animatedly with gestures and that crooked smile that only appeared when he was really enjoying himself. Breakdown decided he would still return to his datapad, but for now there wouldn’t be any harm in indulging his partner.

**Author's Note:**

> Not that it could really get worse than terrible karaoke. It's all uphill from there
> 
> -  
> Feel free to point out anything you noticed, offer advice for improvements, etc!


End file.
